How to Rock your Yard Sale

After the major purge of my house last week I had a huge amount of stuff that I wanted to turn into cash. And we did! We made over $400!  I’ve done a lot of yard sales over the years and have picked up some tricks that really help make the most of your sale!

• Sell low. I know it seems counter productive but if your prices are low they keep shopping. Instead of selling 1 item for $3, sell 3 items for $3. The point is to get rid of stuff. We made $300 of our cash in the 50 cents –$2 price range. I had stuff that was probably worth more, but since the price was so low they didn’t take too much time to decided if they really needed it and they just bought it. Plus they wanted to keep looking since they still had money and they knew they were getting bargains. People went back over tables 2 or 3 times to make sure they didn’t miss anything.  Low prices are motivation to keep shopping. Plus $1 is better than throwing it away or donating it when you need the money.
• Borrow tables. You need to get things up high at waist level. The more easily they can look at things the more likely something will catch their eye.
• Put good stuff in the front. Some people are “drive by” yard sellers. This helps entice them to stop and get out.
• Hang clothes up. People do not want to dig through bags of clothes! If you drop your garage just a little it works as a perfect rack. I never sold clothes at my sales until my friend Leslie taught me this trick and now I hardly ever have any  leftover.

• Have good signs. If people can’t find you they won’t be able to shop! Sometimes after a few hours I ask if they were able to see the signs when they show up to make sure they are working and that they haven’t fallen or been blown down.
• Hold out past the professionals. They come first thing in the morning and will low ball you on everything. They have to in order to make a profit by reselling it. They can be really aggressive to. If you say something is $10 and they counteroffer with $5 and they are your first customer – no way! Tell them it will be $5 later that day.
• Try to get them to name a price. If they ask how much counter with “how much are you willing to pay for it?” Sometimes you get lame people who give ridiculous prices but most of the time they suggest more than I figured.
• Have change! Lots of people will need it and some of the professionals are sneaky and will want something for $2 and then say, “oh I only have a $20 and a $1.” Nice try! If you have change its never a problem!
• Advertise your bigger items on Craigslist or another online sale the week before the sale. This way you can list them for a little higher price. If they don’t sell at the higher prices you will feel better about letting them go for cheaper.
• Have grocery bags on hand. If you make it easy for people to carry more hopefully they will buy more!
• Unfortunately things get stolen at yard sales. I keep toys and important things that I don’t want stolen on the table closest too me.
• Take a picture 3 hours before your sale is going to end and post it on Craigslist that at your ending time everything will be free for a couple of hours! This worked awesome to help clear out all the leftovers and there was way less for us to haul off to our local donation store. Plus there were a few families that showed up that really needed things and it made me feel good.

Happy selling!

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